What Terrorists Will Learn from the 2020 Pandemic

Shoshana Bryen and Charles “Sam” Faddis joined the Center for Security Policy’s Webinar series to discuss “What Terrorists Will Learn from the 2020 Pandemic.”

Both Mrs. Bryen and Mr. Faddis are contributing authors to the Center’s new book “Defending Against Biothreats: What We Can Learn from the Coronavirus Pandemic to Enhance U.S. Defenses Against Pandemics and Biological Weapons.”

In the Webinar, Mrs. Bryen and Mr. Faddis discussed the circumstances surrounding the release of the Wuhan virus, its spread and the faulty response around the world. They pointed out that terrorist groups around the world have long desired to use biological weapons and are no doubt closely watching the flaws and vulnerabilities in our response. In addition to terrorists, Communist China is no doubt also looking at how the U.S. has dealt with the pandemic.

On the positive side, the pandemic has actually had very little impact on the U.S. military’s capability, though that may be mainly due to the fact that the Wuhan virus seems to have little or no effect on young, healthy people, such as those who typically serve in the military.

On the negative side, just about all aspects of the political and social response in the U.S. have been shown to be woefully inadequate. There is no aspect of our response that can be described as successful. Whereas the military actually practiced to respond to biological attacks, which helped them adapt to the pandemic environment, civilian authorities have given much thought to preparing for pandemics, but have never practices real-world scenarios. Predictably, the results have been bad.

Mrs. Bryen and Mr. Faddis wrapped up the Webinar with specific steps that the U.S. must take to prepare for future pandemics and biological attacks and how we must deal with Communist China in light of this experience.